The connections are generally cataloged at the level of the nodes of the network, for example of the routing equipment of this network. The state of each connection is liable to be modified at the level of a node of the network when the latter detects a transit of a data packet belonging to this connection, that is to say it sends or receives a data packet.
A method for managing connections of a telecommunications network in which the ongoing connections are cataloged in a list is known in the prior art. The method comprises, for each connection, a test step for determining whether the connection has terminated. This step consists in comparing the duration elapsed since a date of detection of a transit of a packet belonging to this connection with a threshold value. If the duration is greater than the threshold value, the method comprises a step of deleting the connection from the list.
Such a method can be configured to periodically run through the list of all the connections and apply the test step to each connection of the list. It can also comprise, as soon as a packet transit is detected, a step of ranking the connections of the list as a function of their age, that is to say, for each connection, the duration elapsed since the last date of detection of a packet transit, and apply the test step periodically solely to the connection for which the age is the greatest.
Such a method is satisfactory when the number of connections to be managed is limited. Nevertheless, in the case of periodically running through the list, the time for processing the list increases linearly with the number of connections of the list, and, in the case of the ranking of the list after each detection, the processing time increases in a logarithmic manner as a function of the number of connections and in a linear manner as a function of the number of detected packets.
This method therefore rapidly exhibits implementation problems when it is employed on a large scale, in particular on networks in which the status of thousands of connections may be modified in a second. In order for the management of the connections of a list of this type of network to be performed in real time, it is in fact necessary for the frequency of processing of a connection of the list to be very high, thereby involving the use of very powerful and therefore expensive calculation means.